The Legend of the Raging Fist
by Dumbledork
Summary: Ranma ran afoul of a cursed artifact and was sent to a different world. Follow her adventures as she makes a name for herself in the One Piece World where she is known and feared as Ranma Saotome, the Raging Fist.
1. Impel Down

Hi everyone. I'm back with yet another story, this time a Ranma/One Piece crossover. There aren't many of those and I wanted to remedy to that sad fact. There are probably a lot of One Piece fans who don't know Ranma ½, one of the biggest manga and anime successes of the late eighties, early nineties. If you belong to that group I pity you. Naaah, I'm just joking. Still, I'd suggest you check it out at least, just so you know what it's about.

I tried something different this time and it might be confusing at first as you're probably wandering where the prologue is. I decided to start the story in the middle where Ranma meets some of the more prominent inhabitants of the One Piece world. The next few chapters will focus on Ranma's arrival and adventures in this unknown environment before coming back to where I left off in this chapter.

I just want to point out that this story is a fiction, that none of the characters belong to me, and that I don't make any money with this.

**IMPORTANT NOTES:**

This is a rewrite. Ranma is too powerful in the story, so I'm changing his immunity to Devil Fruit powers to strong resistance. However, there's a way for Ranma to be immune for a short time, but it's very taxing.

I've also made some other changes, like rewriting the complete Magellan fight.

The curse is NOT locked. Just to reassure those readers who hate lockfics.

**CHAPTER 1**

All was calm down on level six at Impel Down. The prisoners were sitting in their cells and not a single sound was heard. There had been a small commotion earlier when one of their number, the famous 'Fire Fist' Ace, had been taken away after spending only a little time in their midst. No one did really care, though; they had their own problems to deal with in this horrible place also known as Eternal Hell.

However, the silence soon got broken once again when a group of three people rushed down the stairs to level six with one of their numbers shouting loudly "AAAAACCCEEEEE! Where are you?"

The group in question was composed of three people who were the bane of the World Government. Two of them were prisoners who had disappeared a while ago without leaving a trace of their whereabouts while the third one had broken into the prison a few hours earlier to save his brother. They were known as 'Straw Hat' Luffy, 'Okama King' Ivankov, and 'Revolutionary' Inazuma. They had brutally mowed down any opposition that had tried to keep them away from their goal: 'Fire Fist' Ace's holding cell.

"AAAACCCCEEEE!" Luffy shouted once more shortly before arriving in front of his brother's cell.

The young pirate looked through the bars but the only person inside was a very large fishman covered in heavy chains that were firmly attached to the prison wall.

"Five more minutes, pops," a sleepy, barely audible female voice mumbled, much to the indifference of the other inmates and visitors.

"Are you Straw Hat Luffy?" The fishman suddenly asked and getting a positive answer he continued, "They took him away a short while ago. If you hurry up you should be able to catch up to them."

They took the advice seriously and not wasting any more time the group hurried ran towards the lift, but just as they reached it the lift cage crashed heavily to floor, stirring up a load of dust.

"They vouldn't make it that easy for us, of course," Ivankov regretted. "The lift is obviously out. Ve'll have to find another vay."

"We'll just have to go back the way we came down," Luffy shouted before running towards the stairs at full speed.

Ivankov and Inazuma quickly followed, but before they could reach the stairway a solid looking portcullis fell down, cutting off their escape way. They were about to demolish the obstacle when another trap was sprung; gas was rushing down the stairs and streaming into the room through the bars.

"Sleeping gas," Inazuma guessed. "They are probably trying to put us to sleep with the rest of the prisoners."

"Hey! Do something!" The prisoners shouted. "Don't get us mixed in this too."

"SHUT UP! There are people trying to sleep here! Don't make me come over or you'll regret it!" The angry female voice from before complained, but her shouts were drowned in the ruckus caused by the other prisoners.

The only one to keep his cool was Inazuma who reacted at once. He changed his hands into scissors and cut the stone floor into ribbons which he then propped up in front of the portcullis, sealing the passageway hermetically and keeping more gas from flowing in.

"Hey! Why did you do that?" Luffy objected. "How am I supposed to get up there now and save my brother?"

"It was the only way," the scissorman calmly explained.

"It's probably too late anyvay," Ivankov stated. "It's probable that by now he's already been handed over to the marines and taken to the marine headquarters in Marineford."

"That doesn't matter! I'll save him anyway, even if I have to go to the marine headquarters."

Iva was astonished by the conviction in the young pirate's tone which reminded him of Dragon and his respect for Luffy increased even further, and he really wanted to share his optimism, but things didn't look good at the moment. He desperately racked his brain for a solution but he drew a blank.

"Want to get out of here? If you release me from my bonds I'll help you. How about it Straw Hat? KUAA-HAA-HAA-HAA!"

Luffy recognized that voice immediately and he shook in anger when he saw the arrogant smirk on the face of a man he hated with all his being. It was Crocodile, the bastard who had abused his nakama, Robin. He'd never forgive him for that.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" The female voice could be heard once again. "Ungh, my head."

This time the group threw a quick look into the direction where the voice had come from, but since it didn't present a danger to them they quickly returned their attention to Crocodile and didn't see the small redheaded girl who got up very slowly while rubbing her head and wincing in pain.

"I can assure you I have no interest in Alabasta any longer. I just want to take Whitebeard's Head."

"Let's get him out Strawhat-boy. This man vould be a valuable asset, especially if you really plan to attack the marine headquarters," Ivankov suggested.

"Ivankov," Crocodile muttered visibly annoyed.

"It's been quite a vhile Croco-boy."

"WHAT THE HELL? Where am I?" The voice of the small girl shouted in outrage as she looked through the bars of her cell.

This time she really got the attention of everyone and the onlookers were quite surprised when they saw the prisoner. With a loud voice like that they had expected anything but a rather harmless looking, short, red haired girl with her hair tied in a pigtail. She was wearing a beautiful, form-fitting cheongsam embroidered with lilies and chrysanthemums that hugged her curves lovingly and emphasized the size of her impressive bust even further. Her feet were adorned with a pair of simple slippers. Her petite stature made guessing her age difficult, but she couldn't have been any older than eighteen or nineteen. A pair of seastone cuffs, which were held together by a sturdy looking chain of the same material, was affixed to her wrists.

"Hey! Can anyone tell me where I am?" She called out to the people on the other side of the bars.

"Vhat kind of a stupid question is that?" Ivankov's head comically doubled in size as he looked incredulously at the redhead.

The little girl was not impressed at all, having been the recipient of Soun Tendo's demon head technique more than once, and this one really couldn't compare.

"Forget the squirt!" the former Shichibukai didn't let her answer. "You want to save Ace, right? Just let me out and I'll open a way for you. The more time you waste the more difficult it will be to get him back."

"Who's a squirt? You wanna say that to my face?" The annoyed girl called over to the other prisoner.

"Heh. As often as you want me to, small fry."

"OKAY! THAT-DOES-IT!" The petite girl concentrated her inner energies and very soon an impressive aura surrounded her. She pushed her ki into her hands and wrists and the seastone cuffs disintegrated immediately. "Get out of the way! I'm coming out."

The people in question didn't heed the advice as they were gawking at the unknown girl who had so easily disintegrated her handcuffs who were supposed to block the powers of any Devil Fruit user. They were still rooted to the spot when the unassuming redhead let her ki flow into her right leg and with a mighty kick blew the gate out of its hinges. The impromptu projectile barely missed Luffy when it flew by and crashed into the opposite wall.

In an instant she had passed the surprised onlookers and with a mighty pull ripped Crocdile's cell door out of its fastenings and let it fall to the ground.

"Wanna try this 'little girl' now, asshole?" She taunted the former warlord with a come hither gesture.

"KUAA-HAA-HAA-HAA! Sure. As soon as I'm freed of these shackles."

"Those little things?" She innocently pointed at the cuffs. "Don't tell me that a big, strong man like you has trouble getting rid of those when a 'little girl' did it so very easily.

That shut him up and his customary grin disappeared from his face.

"Well then, let this 'little girl' show you how it's done," she smirked at him. "After all, I don't want to be accused of bullying a cripple who can't defend himself, although the end result WILL be the same."

Crocodile glared at her as she took care of the cuffs.

"There. Now you won't have an excuse after I defeat you."

"BIG mistake, girly! Let me show you the power of the Sand-Sand fruit," he threatened her, his arrogant smirk back on his face. He turned his body into sand and was halfway done when the redhead grabbed his head and slammed him face first into the ground. Try as he might, he was unable to free himself from the vice-like grip and something prevented him from using his powers.

"So, I'm a little girl, am I? Then how come I'm the one who has you at her mercy, hmmm? Oh, this must be quite the humiliation for you. What would your friends say if they learnt of your defeat?"

The former Shichibukai struggled some more, but it was impossible to get out of the viselike grip.

"So, do you give up?"

"Alright. You win," he acknowledged through gritted teeth.

The reactions from the crowd were rather comical. The prisoners in their cells just gawked at the harmless looking girl, their jaws hanging to the ground; Ivankov's pressed his hands to his heart and looked like he was about to have a heart attack; Luffy laughed out loud and grinned at the entertaining girl before giving her a big thumbs up.

"That was great!" He enthusiastically shouted. "You absolutely have to join my crew"

Crocodile on the other hand was not so happy and he glared at the inconspicuous girl who had bested him so easily. "Who are you? Tell me your name!"

Before the redhead could answer Inazuma had already done so in her stead in his usual calm tone. "That's 'Raging Fist' Ranma, a famous rookie who is also a Devil Fruit user. She has a bounty of 220 million beli on her head and while there's no definite proof it is assumed that she ate the Wind-Wind fruit since she's able to cause tornadoes. However, I wasn't aware that she'd been arrested. The newspapers didn't mention it."

"That's the famous 'Raging Fist'?" The prisoners couldn't believe it. "She looks a lot more impressive on her wanted posters."

Ranma gave them a venomous look laced with killing intent which was enough to shut them up. "Got a problem? Want a piece of me? Don't be shy."

The cowards behind the bars frantically shook their heads from left to right.

"Now, can anyone tell me where I am?" She asked in a sweet voice which changed to a very dangerous tone as she continued, "Or do I have to beat it out of you?"

Trying to defuse the potentially explosive situation Inazuma was once again the voice of reason and explained everything to the clueless prisoner.

"I see… Damn bastard of an innkeeper probably drugged my food. When I get my hands on him he will pay." The gathered group took a step back when they saw a bright red aura form around her.

Immediately the aura died down when she remembered something. She looked around and scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "Um? Which way is the exit?"

The candid question was answered with a massive face fault from everyone around except for Luffy who was grinning and clapping, obviously enjoying the show.

"You're funny. You'll definitely have to join my crew."

"No thanks. I got better things to do with my time."

"Never mind that," The Okama King interrupted. "How did you get out of your seastone cuffs? They should have blocked your Devil Fruit powers."

"Wouldn't you like to know," Ranma teased the revolutionary. "Sorry, but that's a trade secret."

"Hn! Vhatever!" Ivankov huffed. "Not like I vanted to know anyvay." He turned around and had barely taken a step before turning his head towards Ranma.

"That vas a lie!" He gave the victory sign with both of his hands raised in the air. "I really want to know. Please, tell me!"

"No!" Was Ranma's very short answer.

"Shouldn't we concentrate on getting out of here?" Crocodile gruffly interrupted. "Personally, I'm not in a hurry, but the marines probably won't wait for you to arrive before they execute Ace."

"Right. Let's go!" Luffy ordered, his mind back on his mission.

However, before they could leave they heard the fishman in Ace's cell shout: "Take me with you. I can be of help too. You're Luffy, right? I've known your brother ever since he joined the Whitebeard Crew and he has been talking about you a lot. I've been incarcerated because I was opposed to this war. I want to help save Ace."

Recognizing the absolute conviction and honesty with which this as of yet unnamed fishman had pleaded his case Luffy could only agree and they freed the prisoner from his chains and although there was some friction between some members of the group, most notably between Jinbei and Crocodile, the six were ready to bust out.

"So, what's the plan?" Ranma asked looking at the blocked exit.

"I'll take care of it," Crocodile offered. "Stand back, this will take but a moment."

The former head of Baroque Works turned into sand and drifted to the ceiling where he used his Devil Fruit powers to turn the stone into sand, opening a hole large enough to fit the whole group.

After the sandman had opened a passage in the ceiling Inazuma took care of the next part. He once again transformed his arms into scissors and cut the floor into strips of stone with which he formed a spiral staircase high enough to reach the next floor.

Without needing any further prompting the group followed the scissorman up the improvised, yet solid construction and when the guards finally managed to force their way through Inazuma's wall it was already too late and they could do nothing more but stare incredulously at the unexpected escape route.

The guards immediately informed their superiors which caused an uproar in the control room with Hannyabal, the vice-warden of the prison, frantically giving orders to the various guard groups to stop the escapees' progress.

**01234543210**

The small band didn't waste any time and while Ivankov explained the plan to his newkama, a splinter group composed of Luffy, Crocodile, Jinbei, and Ranma went on ahead without waiting for the others, with the intention to open the way for them.

The four advanced swiftly and made it to level four without meeting any resistance. Crocodile quickly demolished the solid wooden door blocking the way with his sand powers only to find a welcoming committee already waiting for them on the other side, a large group of guards with their rifles pointed straight at them.

"Four of them have already reached level four," a panicking officer informed the control room. "They are Crocodile, Monkey D. Luffy, Jinbei, and Ranma Saotome."

Even the most courageous of the guards were now shaking in their boots as they learnt the names of their opponents and they could but stare in fear at the hardened criminals they had to face. This stalemate didn't last long, though, as one guard, out of courage or out of stupidity no one will ever know, took aim and shot Crocodile in the head. The sandman wasn't impressed at all and kept his smirk intact as the bullet simply passed through his head with the only effect being some displaced sand.

The guard didn't have time to regret his bold action as Crocodile transformed his arm into a very large scythe and mowed him down before he could reload, taking several of his comrades out at the same time. The former Shichibukai then went on straight ahead and brutally eliminated any opposition blocking his way.

The others in the group didn't need any further prompting to get in on the action. Luffy jumped into the air and let loose a volley of Gum-Gum fruit powered downward punches at the numerous guards surrounding him, knocking them all out.

Next to him Jinbei concentrated his energy and launched a short jab which completely missed his opponent. However, the effect of this seemingly wasted punch was spectacular as a shockwave erupted out of Jinbei's fist and blasted the whole group amassed in front of him apart.

Ranma for her part chose an entirely different method than her companions. Whereas they used brute force to eliminate their enemies she was all about finesse, using her great speed do dodge any bullet flying her away while incapacitating any opposition with surgically precise strikes, wasting as little energy as possible. As the guards weren't a serious threat to her she kept an eye on the others and was very impressed by Jinbei's technique. She concentrated most of her attention on him, trying to find out more about his martial arts style. She had learned a lot of new moves in this strange world, but so far she had only heard rumors about fishman karate but never actually fought anyone who used the style. She smiled at her good fortune as she was finally able to see a master of fishman karate at work.

The few guards left standing were staring at the onslaught happening all around them and were afraid for their lives as they had realized the futility of their efforts to stop those juggernauts from waltzing through them. They thought about their loved ones they'd never see again, but didn't abandon their posts. They were marines and had given an oath never to show fear or flee from the enemy. It was their duty to delay the prisoners long enough for the reinforcements to arrive, but so far it didn't look like they'd succeed.

Not even a minute later and everything was over with the group of four standing victorious over the broken bodies of the fallen prison guards and ready to move to the next part of the plan, freeing the captives on that level to get some reinforcements.

Crocodile recognized one of his old subordinates in one of the cages and grinned before throwing the keys inside. "Well, well, well, Mr. 1. I'm thinking about leaving but I could do with some backup. How about it? Want to come with me?"

Mr. 1 was sitting on a bench at the back of the cage, but he lifted his head when he recognized the voice. "Well, since I have nothing better to do I don't see why not. I was getting bored in here."

As the other three were opening the other cells and letting the prisoners out Mr. 2, Inazuma, Ivankov and all of his newkama had joined up with the newly freed convicts from level four and together they were raising hell and steamrolling the guards on their way up.

The Okama King used his growth hormones to inflate his already impressive head to increase the volume of his voice, and because it was fun of course. "Let's go!" He shouted and pointed his arm into the direction of the stairs to level three.

Very soon they encountered a large group of Blue Gorillas that immediately attacked Iva on chief guard Saldeath's order.

The Okama King was not impressed at all. He blinked his left eye and with a shout of "Death Wink" an air pressure blast shot out of it and eliminated all of the enemies with a single shot.

Ranma looked at the scene, perplexed, and wondered how such an attack was possible. She was usually very good at figuring out attacks, but this strange one had her stumped.

"STRAWHAT-BOY!" Iva diverted his attention towards Luffy. "You mustn't vaste your time here. Leave the rabble to us and just go ahead. GO!"

Before the pirate captain could comply a stronger group of enemies had already arrived on the scene. "Demon guards!" One of the escapees shouted. "Three of them! We're doomed"

The demon guards were indeed some of the strongest creatures inside the prison and were Zoan-class Devil Fruit users who looked like huge animal/human hybrids and Ranma really wondered if there was an equivalent to Jusenkyo in this world as these creatures reminded her of Pantyhose Taro. These three particular specimens were koala, rhino and zebra crosses. Their leader, Sadi, was a beautiful blonde human woman armed with a trident, but the redhead shook her head at the outfit she was wearing. Either she was totally into SM since the leather outfit had a very strong resemblance to a typical dominatrix costume, although the skimpiness and the added cape reminded her more of Naga the White Serpent from Slayers, or she had no fashion sense at all since even Naga would never wear shocking pink.

"Show no mercy!" The woman ordered. "Inflict as much pain as possible!"

The monstrous creatures complied immediately and with a few blows with their gigantic weapons devastated the escaped prisoners in front of them.

The thing that really creeped Ranma out, though, was the woman's reaction to the violence as she seemed to be really getting off on it if her blissed-out appearance and shouts of "MMMMH YEEEES! MOOORE!" were any indication.

The martial artist stayed at the back of the group, far away from the obviously deranged woman and watched as Luffy, Crocodile, and Jinbei were rushing towards the stairs. The demon guards had noticed this and moved in front of them. Ranma was about to help them, but before she could join them it was already too late as the creatures were already agonizing on the ground, each one felled by a single attack. The redhead was impressed by this and her respect for them grew even further while the human guards and the prisoners were shocked by how fast the demon guards had been dealt with.

The three pirates had already passed the crying Sadi who was in too much pain to stop their advance. However, she recovered very quickly and although it was too late to stop the ones responsible for her anguish she was determined to take revenge on all of those that were left. for the pain they had inflicted on her pets. She positioned herself at the end of the small bridge leading across the burning furnace that formed level four, also called Eternal Hell and waited for the prisoners.

"You will pay for killing my beloved pets! RED DEMON WHIP" She swung her whip at the bridge causing a huge chunk of it to fall into the pit, taking some of the prisoners down with it. Before she could demolish the whole bridge and run after Luffy and his companions she was stopped by a jump kick from Ivankov who had transformed into a girl right while Ranma was watching.

The redhead's eyes widened in surprise and she stared incredulously at the man-turned-woman. "What? How?" She asked, her gaze taking in the revolutionary's new appearance. "How did you do that?" She shouted as she pointed a shaky finger at the Okama Queen.

"I'm in a fight right now. Ask me later," Iva answered without taking her attention off the sadistic dominatrix.

This brush off annoyed the redhead who had all but given up hope on ever finding a cure to her curse ever since being stranded in this world and she was determined to get an answer as quickly as possible.

Before the fight between Ivankov and Sadi could really start she jumped between the two of them and with a shout of "KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN" punched the psycho a few dozen times into the abdomen with enough force to knock her out.

"What fight?" The redhead smirked at the other gender changer.

"Vell done. I guess I can tell you the secret. It is..."

Ranma leaned closer, eager to learn how to finally get rid of that damn curse.

"I von't tell you. Mmmfufufu!"

The redhead facefaulted at this unexpected answer, but recovered immediately and lifted the two to three times larger woman into the air without any apparent effort. "What do you mean you won't tell me?"

"It vas a joke," she answered and laughed very loudly.

Ranma let the revolutionary down although she gave her a venomous look, promising a lot of pain to come if the answer wasn't satisfactory.

"Very vell then. I vill tell you. It's one of the abilities I got from the Horm-Horm fruit. I change vhenever I feel like it. It's really liberating to freely choose the sex you vant to be and it's my goal in life to offer that possibility to anyone vho vants to change. Do you vant to be a man? I can make it happen, very easily even."

"That won't work," was the disappointed reply from the martial artist. "I'm very resistant to Devil Fruit powers. Dammit! And here I thought that I could finally be free of this darn female body."

As she was cursing her bad luck she didn't notice Iva move behind her and change her fingers into syringes. "EMPORIO MALE HORMONE!" She called out and in a pincer attack stabbed the redhead with both hands.

"What the…?" Ranma exclaimed more in surprise than in pain.

Ivankov just grinned mischievously at her while waiting for the changes to occur.

Very slowly the redhead changed. She grew a few centimeters and her bust shrunk slightly while her hair took on a darker hue. At midpoint of the transformation, however, the changes stopped and reversed themselves.

The Okama Queen's amusement turned into disappointment when she saw her ability not have the expected result. "That's impossible! My hormones have never failed before."

"I told you so," The martial artist scowled at the Okama Queen. "And next time, ask before you pull a stunt like that." Then she simply left towards the stairs to the next level.

"Vait!" Ivankov called out as she was following behind. "How did you know it vouldn't vork?"

"It's obvious," she answered without looking back as her eyes were fixed on the fight between Luffy and a strange demon-like man. "I've fought Devil Fruit users more than once and none of their powers have ever worked on me. Ah well, I'll survive."

She joined the prisoners who had their eyes riveted on the big fight. "Who's the strange guy Luffy is fighting?" She asked one of them.

"That's Hannyabal, the Vice-Warden. He's the number two here, right after Magellan."

Ranma nodded and watched the fight silently, analyzing both combatants fighting styles. Luffy was doing really well, but he was relying too much on his Devil Fruit powers in her opinion. His whole fighting style seemed to be based on his rubber body's properties.

Hannyabal really surprised her, as he used pure skill and nothing else. She shook her head at the fake wings and ridiculous outfit he was wearing, but she had to admit that he was a great fighter. He might even have presented a challenge to her a few years earlier. The Vice-Warden was huge; at least twice Luffy's size and overweight, but extremely fast and agile for someone of that built. He used a double-bladed naginata which he handled expertly, spinning it around at such great speeds that the friction caused the blades to erupt in flames, increasing the lethality of his blows even further.

She watched the two combatants but didn't make a move to help the young pirate captain, as she would never interrupt a duel between two fighters, Sadi having been an exception.

The fiery naginata blows rained down on the rubberman who blocked them all with ease, using only his fists, not giving an inch, determination burning in his eyes. Ranma knew that look very well, as she had had the same one when she was fighting Saffron. Here was a man who would be stopped by nothing short of death until he had accomplished his mission.

When Hannyabal stopped his attacks to get a breather Luffy quickly took advantage of it and with a shout of "JET GATLING" punched him so hard that he crashed into the ground heavily wounded. However, the powerful blow was not enough to put him down and he slowly got up again, streams of blood flowing out of his numerous wounds.

He then gave an inspiring speech about how pirates were the scum on earth, preying on the helpless people and causing them to live in fear, but Ranma didn't really care about it, having heard it all before. The Marine bigwigs working for the World Government loved to give similar speeches to convince the people of the righteousness of their mission, but she knew the truth. A lot of the members of the Marine and the World Government were worse than pirates and even more corrupt and cruel, but it seemed to her like Hannyabal sincerely believed what he was saying.

His speech was suddenly interrupted by a voice from behind him. "What's with this talk about justice and evil? It's pointless."

Before the Vice-Warden could answer he was knocked out as someone stepped on his face and stomped him into the ground.

The voice then addressed the escapees. "There's quite a gathering here. I hope I'm not interrupting something. You people seem to be awfully busy. Zehahahah!"

Jinbei immediately recognized man who had just spoken and prepared for a fight. "Teach? What are you doing here? Or is it Blackbeard now?"

"Oh! Jinbei. Don't give me that look full of hate. I'm not looking for a fight."

"You're Blackbeard?" Luffy growled at the man.

"Hmmmm?" Blackbeard turned his attention to the young pirate. "Oh yeah! I never told you my name, did I? Zehahahah! I was quite surprised when I learnt that you were the brother of my good old commander. Maybe you'd better hurry and go after Ace. I doubt they'll wait for you before they execute him."

Luffy's body shook in anger at seeing that hateful man who had sold out his brother standing there in front of him.

"In fact," the newest Shichibukai continued, "you should thank him for taking your place. You see, after I heard that it was you who defeated Crocodile I figured that the best way to force the Government to give me his old title was to deliver you to them. However, Ace didn't like the idea of me capturing his little brother and tried to stop me, to no avail of course. After I defeated him I figured that he was an even better bargaining chip than you. In the end the Government gave me the title and there was really no reason any longer to hunt you down. Don't forget to thank him when you visit his grave. Zehahahah!"

This casual disregard for his brother enraged Luffy and before Blackbeard could react the straw hat pirate had already punched him in the face and sent him flying.

"I won't let Ace get killed!" Luffy shouted as he balled his fists planning to beat the crap out of the pirate who had betrayed his brother.

This time, however, Blackbeard was ready for the attack and with his Devil Fruit powers he stopped Luffy's charge with ease and slammed him into the ground.

The rubberman got up a very quickly and before he could attack againg Jinbei grabbed his fist. "Wait! There's a time for getting revenge, but this is not it. Remember what you've come here for. Consider that he was strong enough to defeat Ace. Keep your mind on your mission and don't waste your strength on him; you might need it later."

Ranma had been watching the whole scene and silently agreed with the fishman. Losing your cool in a fight could cost you the match, and Ryoga was the best example of that. After all, she had defeated the pig more than once after successfully getting under his skin. She herself had made that mistake more than once, usually when dealing with her father, and it had never done her any good.

"So, you're Blackbeard," Crocodile intervened. "I heard that a former Whitebeard pirate got the title that rightfully belongs to me, but I wonder. Why would you risk losing it again by attacking Impel Down?"

"Oh, it's all part of my grand plan, but I have no obligation or intention to tell you about it. I doesn't concern you so just forget that you ever saw me here."

Suddenly the escapees heard a commotion coming from behind "It's Magellan!" One of the prisoners shouted in fear as he ran past. "The Chief Warden is coming! RUNNNNN! " This caused a real panic among the other escapees who ran away as fast as possible and up to level three. They didn't meet any resistance since Blackbeard's crew had cleared the path for them.

"This is really bad," Ivankov told Luffy. "Strawhat-Boy! Quickly, go head. If you're subjected to his poison vone more time there's nothing I can do for you. My hormones won't work a second time."

"I WILL save Ace!" Luffy affirmed once more while looking Teach in the eyes.

"Zehahahah! Good luck with that. Nothing is impossible in this world. After all, you did find Sky Island although it was believed to be a myth. And One Piece definitely exists, so you might be able to save your brother after all."

With that said Blackbeard left the escaped prisoners behind and went deeper into the prison together with his crew.

"Who's Magellan?" Ranma asked the Okama Queen after she saw the panic his name had caused, "and why is everyone afraid of him?"

"He's the most dangerous person in this place. He has the powers of the Venom-Venom fruit, vhich allows him to secrete any kind of poison he wants. One touch and you're dead… or only paralyzed, if he's in a generous mood. It's quite understandable vhy everyone's running away from him. Ve should do the same."

The redhead agreed and they took the stairs to the next level and a few moments later they heard an angry voice coming from behind. "Straw Hat! You'll never make it out of here alive; I'll make sure of it."

The prisoners continued onwards, but Magellan was gaining quickly on them thanks to his powers and caught up to the leaders as they were entering the stairway to the next level, most of the escapees lagging behind having already been eliminated by the Chief Warden.

Ranma turned her head and when she saw the carnage she stopped.

"Vhat are you doing?" Ivankov scolded her. "Run away of the poison vill kill you!"

Ranma just smirked at her concerned fellow escapee. "Go ahead. I'll take care of him and rejoin you afterwards. Remember. I'm resistant to Devil Fruit powers, so I'm probably the only one here who can deal with him."

The Okama Queen nodded and didn't insist. The young woman was probably their best bet against that monster.

The martial artist stood arrogantly in front of the stairs with her arms crossed and smirked at the approaching Chief Warden who to her looked like the usual representation of the devil, horns on the head and fake batwings included, although the tail was missing. He was a sight to behold she had to admit as he was even bigger than Hannyabal and wearing a black military uniform. His whole body was continuously dripping poison and three impressive draconic heads made of the same substance were trailing behind him attached to his shoulders by thick ropes of poison.

"You should have run when you had the time," the large man told her, "but you obviously realized that resistance was futile and now you hope that I'll finish you quickly without leaving you agonizing for hours. Very well, I'll grant you your wish before dealing with the rest of the scum."

"Awfully confident in your skills, aren't you?" The redhead taunted the Chief Warden. "More powerful people than you have tried before and all have failed miserably."

This didn't sit well with Magellan and before the short woman could insult him further he had already launched the three dragons at her, but much to his surprise she wasn't there when the dragons reached her position. She was calmly standing two meters to the left of the impact spot, arms still crossed and an infuriating grin on her face. "Maaann. I know blind men who have a better aim. Better luck next time."

The Poisonman didn't let the taunt affect him but calmly produced five more dragons. They were quickly homing in on the redhead who once again managed to get away. However, her eyes widened when she realized her mistake. The attack had been merely a decoy to distract her from the sixth dragon that arrived from another angle and hit her full on, washing a torrent of poison over her.

"It's over," Magellan calmly stated and shook his head at the girl's stupidity. "How foolish of you to think you had a chance against me. Well, you'll have all the time in the world to regret you're your mistake in Hell."

Without wasting another look on the poison dripping martial artist he slowly entered the stairway, but before he could climb higher than the first few steps he heard a very familiar voice from behind him.

"Not… so fast!" The shaky voice ordered. It… ain't over… till the fat lady sings and… I haven't heard her yet."

Startled, the large man turned around and his eyes widened when he saw the small redhead holding her stomach and a large pool of vomit at her feet.

"Ugh! That was awful." She spat the last drops of vomit out of her mouth.

"That can't be!" Magellan stated, showing emotions for the first time since the beginning of the fight. "No one has ever resisted that attack."

"Heh! You've never tasted the Tomboy's cooking. Nothing you can dish out will ever come close to the toxic waste she usually produces in the kitchen without even trying."

Her opponent frowned. He didn't get the reference, but somehow felt heavily insulted.

"If that is all you're capable of," she taunted the warden even further, "I wonder how you got the job. Probably won it in the lottery, I guess."

"Let me reassure you," he once again didn't take the bait, "that's not even a fraction of my talents. Let me show you the true powers of the Venom-Venom fruit."

Ranma took up a defensive position and waited for her opponent's next attack. She didn't have to wait long. Magellan took a deep breath and spat out a large gaseous cloud that quickly covered the terrain in front of him.

The redhead hadn't expected it and very soon was completely surrounded by the unnatural mist. She quickly understood the properties of the attack when her clothes started to disintegrate and her skin began to itch fiercely. Before the acidic cloud could do any more damage she took a short run-up and jumped over the Chief Warden and out of the mist.

When she looked down at herself she cursed loudly as her clothes were in tatters and she was showing a lot of skin. "Dammit. That was my favourite outfit. You'll pay for that."

"Impossible. All your flesh should have melted off by now."

"I'm very resistant, you asshole, but my clothes sure aren't. Do you know how much these cost? I'll beat the price out of you. You can be sure of that. I'm done playing with you. Prepare for some serious pain."

She followed that statement with action and attacked swiftly. Magellan coated his body in poison but that didn't save him from the devastating punch the redhead landed in his abdomen, knocking him back a few meters where he fell to his knees holding his midsection in pain.

"How… did you do that?" He asked with difficulty, still feeling the pain of the punch.

"Very easily I'd say. You really shouldn't have pissed me off."

Magellan was usually rather level-headed and in control of his emotions, but for the first time since he got his position he actually felt a tinge of fear. However, he had never lost before and he wouldn't this time either. Time to take out the big guns

He concentrated and exuded a large quantity of poison that gathered behind him and slowly formed into a gigantic zombie like humanoid creature that reached to the ceiling. "You should feel honored. I've only rarely had to resort to his forbidden attack. The poison is so potent that there is no chance to escape death. VENOM DEMON : HELL JUDGEMENT." One of the creature's arms shot forward incredibly fast and with a fist that was larger than the redhead punched her with maximum force. However, she had seen the attack coming as soon as she had seen the creature grow arms. She had easily jumped out of the way before the fist had reached her and deciding not to give the Chief Warden the chance to come up with an even more lethal attack she propelled herself at him and pummeled him into unconsciousness with the chestnut fist. She pressed several pressure points on his body sending him into a deep sleep that would last for at least three hours unless someone knew the counterpoints, but she was confident that apart from her no one knew them… in this world at least.

Before she left she went through his pockets and took all the money he had. The clothes HAD been expensive and it was normal that the one who destroyed them had to pay for their replacement.

The fight had only lasted a scant few minutes and she quickly rejoined the others on level two by using a new skill she'd developed a few months ago and which allowed her to move at incredible speeds. She got the idea for her speed running technique after one of those CP9 guys had used his _soru_ skill against her. Basically, her new technique was a blend between the _Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken_ and _soru_. _'Now those had been fun fights'_,she reminisced. _'Those guys knew how to fight and were a real challenge as they didn't rely solely on their Devil Fruit powers'_.

"You're back?" Ivankov shouted in surprise when he noticed the redhead running next to him. "Vhere's Magellan?"

"Don't worry about him. He'll be sleeping for a few hours. You were right; he is a dangerous man. If not for my resistance to poison I'd probably have had a much harder time. Ah well, I guess that the Tomboy's food was good for something after all. See you later." She left a puzzled revolutionary behind as she joined the main group who was further ahead and fighting off some strange creatures called Manticores, but they were easily dealt with.

"You can slow down," she grinned. "Magellan isn't a problem any longer. I took care of him."

"You did?" Jinbei asked without slowing down. "Unbelievable."

"You beat the poison guy?" Luffy grinned back. "Now I reaaaalllly want you in my crew and I won't take no for an answer!"

"We'll see," Ranma answered noncommittally, just to get him to shut up and not ask her again for a while, although she had no intention of giving in. She didn't like to take orders from anyone. "So, what's the plan?"

"It's simple," the former Shichibukai answered. "Once we make it to the exit we take one of the ships and follow after Ace. If we're not slowed down we should make it to Marineford before the execution takes place."

"Alright. Sounds good," she agreed

"This is strange," Crocodile interrupted. "There's no one around."

"They've probably been already defeated by Blackbeard and his men," the redhead theorized.

"That's not what I meant. Look at the cells. They are empty."

"Hmmm, you're right," Jinbei confirmed. "That IS strange. I wonder who let them out."

"Blackbeard maybe?" Ranma proposed. "Maybe he used them to create a diversion."

"I doubt it," Crocodile rejected that possibility. "He wouldn't have bothered getting the keys."

"Why don't we ask them? They are right ahead of us," the martial artist pointed at a large group of prisoners who were running ahead on them.

"Excuse me," Ranma tapped on one of the fleeing convict's right shoulder with her index finger a few times to get his attention. "Who let you out of your cells?"

"The great Captain Buggy did, Ma'am," he answered with stars in his eyes. "We'll follow him to the end of the world. He's the greatest captain ever. He'll be the next Pirate King."

"That's great. Red nose made it out alive after all," Luffy was happy that his friend was safe.

The group quickly passed the level two prisoners and it didn't take them long to catch up with the leaders of the group. Mr. 3 and Buggy turned around to see what the commotion was about and their eyes jumped out of their sockets when they recognized the people following them.

"B-Boss!" the waxman was shaking in fear and torrents of tears were flowing out of his eyes when he recognized his former employer.

"Hmmmm? Mr. 3? What are you doing here you little piece of shit?"

"Straw Hat! Jinbei!" Buggy almost fainted when he saw them.

"Hey guys. Glad to see you're okay," the rubberman waved at the two who had abandoned him earlier.

Just then Buggy received a strong kick into the face courtesy of Mr. 2. "What's the big idea? Abandoning me in that hellhole, you meanies."

They cut the reunion short as they had more urgent matters to attend do and a few minutes later the group had finally made it to level one and saw only a few guards waiting for them in front of the large entrance to the prison.

"This is bad!" One of them despaired. "We need backup or everything is lost."

Unfortunately for them the requested backup didn't arrive and they were easily defeated.

With no more resistance ahead the prisoners gave a victorious shout and eagerly tore out the large wooden gate leading to their freedom. When they stepped into the sun which many of them hadn't see in years, their joy turned into shock when they saw a score of warships armed with canons pointed at them and each manned with hundreds of marine soldiers with their rifles at the ready. (1).

They immediately rushed back inside, despair visible on their faces. "What do we do now?" "We're surrounded!" "All hope is lost!" "We're all going to die!" "I don't want to go back into the cell!"

"Shut up!" Crocodile ordered. "You are pathetic. Mr. 1, are you coming? Let's show those maggots how it's done."

"Right behind you, boss."

The two former Baroque Works members calmly advanced toward the ships, followed by Jinbei, Luffy, Ivankov, Inazuma, and Ranma while Buggy and Mr. 3 stayed behind.

"Captain Buggy, sir. Why don't you take the lead and show them your might?" One of his men wanted to know.

"That's simple. It's the job of the underlings to take care of the trash. I want to see how they fare and I will naturally join the fight should it go badly for them. That's how a good captain acts."

"That's our captain!" "What a great man!" "A fine tactician he is, our captain!" "Nothing will stop us!" "Victory will be ours with him leading us!"

Buggy soaked up the praise and grinned at his good luck. _'I'll just let the powerhouses deal with the problems and reap the results. Am I intelligent or what'_? He thought.

"Don't forget that we need one ship intact if we want to leave," Jinbei advised before diving into the sea.

No more was said as the others sprinted off into different directions, each one taking care of a different ship.

Ranma cupped her hands in front of her chest, a determined look on her face. She pushed her ki into her hands and very soon motes of silvery light appeared between the palms which then grew into a large, pulsating, silver sphere. "DOKUJA HAIGA! (1)" She shouted and a large beam of energy, dwarfing even Ryoga's 'Perfect Shishi Hokodan', shot out of her hands and tore through the ship like it was paper, obliterating the vessel with a single attack. Her eyes widened at the result. She had been developing her new ki attack over the last few months, trying out different emotions. In the end she found out that determination worked out even better for her rather than confidence, and while she had come close to perfecting the 'Dokuja Haiga' this was actually the first time she got such a fantastic result. She was really giddy now, thinking of ways to improve her new technique even further.

Mr. 1 jumped on their escape ship and quickly dealt with the hundreds of soldiers with his Dice-Dice fruit powers, which granted him the ability to change any part of his body into a blade hard as steel and impervious to slashing attacks and even bullets. He easily deflected the bullets with one arm while efficiently cutting down the advancing soldiers with the other until he quickly took care of the ones further away by shooting several air pressure attacks out of his bladed appendages which cut all the remaining soldiers in two.

Crocodile smirked at the marines who had their guns pointed at him as the bullets simply went through his body without doing any harm. He transformed into sand and calmly enveloped the bow of the ship before sucking the water right out of the wooden vessel, which then crumbled into dust while the soldiers fell helplessly into the sea.

Inazuma simply used his Snip-Snip fruit powers to slice and dice the ship into little pieces in the span of a few seconds.

Ivankov used his growth hormones to increase the size of his head twentyfold and destroyed a ship with a 'Hell Wink' attack with was the overpowered version of his 'Death Wink'.

Protected by the water Jinbei approached another ship from below and using his monstrous fishman strength punched several holes into the hull. The water eagerly flowed inside and very soon the vessel keeled over and sank to the ocean floor.

The remaining ships were quickly taken care of in the same fashion and in the end it had taken the group barely five minutes to eliminate all opposition while the other escapees looked at the horrid spectacle with eyes wide open and sweating in fear, vowing to never get on those monsters' bad side.

"Alright! Time to leave." Luffy enthusiastically pumped his fist in the air. "Everyone on board! Leeeet's goooo!" Then he turned serious as he made a silent promise. _'Ace! Wait for me! I'll definitely save you. You've always protected me in the past and now it's my turn'_.

The mass of prisoners didn't need any further prompting and rushed to the large warship. "We're free!" "Finally!" "I can finally see my family again!" "I'll never let myself get arrested again!" "They'll pay for this!" Those were just some of the statements that could be heard coming from the newly freed convicts as they were celebrating their newfound freedom.

Ranma sat down and leaned back, resting her head against the railing and couldn't hide the smile that appeared on her face. She'd been in this world for two years already and she wondered when she had turned into such an adrenaline junkie. When she had still been living with the Tendos in Nerima she used to be lazy and mostly enjoyed the good life, never actively looking for challenges, but only reacting when she was the one being challenged. Ryoga always seemed to stumble upon or come up with new techniques just to defeat her, while she was sitting on her ass doing nothing or reading manga. Okay, she'd always won in the end, but not without suffering some humiliating setbacks beforehand. Now she couldn't imagine her life without all the danger and excitement she encountered every single day.

She thought back to that fateful sunny Saturday afternoon when it had happened. The memory was still vivid in her mind and would probably stay so forever. At first she had vowed revenge on the person responsible for her predicament, but slowly that resentment had turned into gratitude after she had become acclimated to this new world and met some good people who had accepted her unconditionally for what she was, curse and all, and didn't constantly use and abuse her for their own gain. Yes, it all started after she had heard the fateful shout of "AIREN!"

**01234543210**

(1) In the original story Magellan ordered the ships to leave, but here he was defeated before he could give that order. The captains of the warships knew about the outbreak, though, and that's why they were prepared for an attack.

**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE**: there's been a huge discussion going on at the fanfiction forum about Ranma being a Mary Sue and that he should never have been able to defeat Magellan that easily and that his Devil Fruit abilities should have affected him.

First of all there's a difference between ki/haki (in this fic at least) and it will be explained in later chapters. We've seen more than once in the series that haki users can block Devil Fruit powers very effectively. Ki is somewhat similar and Ranma has been using it for so long that he's perfectly capable of doing the same. There's also the fact that Ranma has spent two years in this dangerous world already and his skills have grown by leaps and bounds.

Now while it's true that Ranma is the perfect weapon against Devil Fruit users the same is not true for other fighters, haki users, or Devil Fruit users who don't rely on their powers exclusively.

(1) Poisonous Snake Piercing-Fang

There's a lot more I could say on the subject, but I think I'll stop here. You may or may not agree with me, but I hope that you enjoyed this chapter anyway. Peace out, everyone, and I hope that I'll see you again.

POSTED: 2012/01/24

EDITED: 2012/02/21


	2. How it all started

Author's note: After posting the first chapter some readers complained about it, saying that I should have started the story at the beginning. While I can respect the reasons they came up with I don't share them. I think it's an interesting change for the readers to get some action right from the start.

Well, problem solved. Just dismiss the first chapter for the moment and concentrate on this one which is the real start of the story, detailing how Ranma ended up in the One Piece world.

I hope you'll enjoy it. I put a lot of work in it and I hope I'll get some feedback, positive or negative I don't care. Reviews motivate me to write. I'd also appreciate if you pointed out any spelling or grammar mistakes you might find.

Well, I won't bore you any longer with my notes and just let you enjoy the new chapter.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: I'd like to thank MesoJoe for pointing out a mistake I made about the Japanese schooling system. It has been corrected now.

I have also improved some other passages in the beginning. If you have already downloaded the old version of the chapter please replace it with the updated one.

**CHAPTER 2: How it all started**

_**What has gone before:**_

_Luffy has snuck into Impel Down, the most secure prison in the world, to free his brother Ace. When he reaches the lowest level, where his brother is supposed to be held, he learns that he has already been taken away by the Marines. He frees some of the other prisoners who agree to help him get out of the prison, but also have their own agendas. Among the freed are two former Shichibukai, Crocodile and Jinbei, as well as the rising star among the outlaws of the world, Ranma Saotome, the Raging Fist. On their way out, the escapees free numerous prisoners and it's a large group that makes it out of the fortress. Sailing away on the only remaining ship after they had destroyed all the others the escapees can finally relax and Ranma uses that time to think back to that fateful day that changed her life. _

'_text'_ = thoughts

text = Chinese

The starting point of what was to be Ranma's biggest adventure had been a calm and sunny Saturday afternoon. It was three months into the new school year and Ranma and Akane were now second years. Things had calmed down a lot, mostly because the young martial artist and his two (as far as he knew) official fiancées had been put into different classrooms during the reshuffling of the classes, much to the relief of most of the students and teachers.

Akane and Ukyo were still together in the same class, but without Ranma there to antagonize them with his thoughtless remarks and rudeness a tentative friendship had developed between the two girls when they realized that they had more in common than they had initially thought. They were still rivals for Ranma's heart, of course, but they agreed that fighting about it was childish and so far had only served to drive him away.

It had been the principal's idea to separate the troublemakers, but then he didn't have much of a choice ever since some angry parents had threatened to sue the school for endangering their children on a daily basis through the constant fighting and stupid martial arts challenges, and he couldn't even dismiss their concerns since his own son was the main cause for most of the incidents. The school board had given the principal an ultimatum: either he came up with a viable solution to the constant madness or he'd lose his job. The principal might be eccentric, some would even go as far as calling him a total loon, but he was lucid enough to realize that without the support of the school board the parents could sue him personally, and even if he was wealthy the many trials that would follow would be expensive enough to drain even his substantial resources.

Since he definitely couldn't let that happen he took some very drastic measures, of which the most important but also the hardest one was to send his son to a private school far away, much to everyone else's joy. Tatewaki had refused at first, of course, but since the principal was the head of the family and thus in charge of the finances he had no other choice but to comply or forfeit his generous monthly allowance, and while he hated being away from his loves he really couldn't stand the idea of having to live like a commoner.. He still made himself a nuisance with the flowers and poems he sent daily, and which landed promptly in the trash, but at least he wasn't physically present, except on weekends when he'd stop for a quick visit before being sent off again via Akane Airlines. Still, they considered it a small victory, even if they didn't get rid of him completely.

While dealing with his son had been an arduous task he had had a much easier time curbing his daughter's 'innocent enthusiasm' as he called it since his baby girl showed him the respect he was due as her father and listened to reason. She promised to behave and not to visit her 'darling Ranma' at his school. So far she had kept her word and was only occasionally making a pest out of herself after school was over.

All these measures had been surprisingly effective and there hadn't been any major incidents or acts of violence inside the school in a month… well, mostly. After all, the occasional sparring matches between rivals can't be called major incidents, right? Until the fights cause property damage or innocent bystanders get hurt it's all fun and games. Boys will be boys after all and they need to somehow get rid of all that pent-up energy in one way or another.

The happiest one with these changes was Ranma who could finally relax in class without having to watch his back or his mouth all the time because of his fiancées' chronic jealousy or Kuno's stupidity.

And it wasn't like he didn't see his fiancées anymore. He was still living at the Tendos' and spending lunch hour with the two girls, but the few hours of less exposure to them and their rivalry had really helped improve their relationship. Oh sure, Akane still had her temper and made her anger known whenever Ranma refused to eat her food instead of Ukyo's during lunch, but at least the two girls weren't fighting each other over it, and it was mostly the pigtailed teen alone who had to suffer the brunt of their displeasure, but since he barely felt the blows he endured the treatment and kept his mouth shut not to make things worse. Old dogs can still learn new tricks as it seemed.

Another thing that had changed was that his heated rivalry with Ryoga was pretty much over. Ever since P-chan had confessed to Akari he had mellowed a lot and was much less of a pain in the butt. He was still short-tempered, but didn't fly off the handle quite as often. All of that had been the pig farmer's doing. The pigtailed boy was especially grateful that the pig farmer had finally made the eternally lost boy understand that not all of his problems in life had been caused by Ranma. They were still sparring occasionally and going all out while fighting, but there wasn't any real animosity in their bouts any longer.

Ryoga still hadn't told Akane about his curse, but since he didn't use his cursed form any longer to sneak into her room or to get Ranma into trouble the pigtailed fighter had stopped calling him P-chan and agreed not to tell Akane either, especially since he'd be in just as much trouble as Ryoga for not telling the short-tempered tomboy about it.

Mousse was still his old self and tried to kill Ranma regularly, but without Kuno or Ryoga to help him with his stupid schemes he wasn't much of a nuisance and easily dealt with.

Kodachi and Shampoo still hadn't given up on him, much to Ranma's chagrin, but with Akane and Ukyo fighting them off together they didn't stand a chance and were quickly defeated.

Thankfully, both hadn't been around for a few days and the two teens had used the quiet time to improve their relation.

School had finally let out for the weekend and after having said their goodbyes to their friends Ranma and Akane left the school grounds to go shopping together, and while they didn't call it a date that was pretty much what it was. Akane needed new clothes and Ranma agreed to accompany her. At first he was rather reluctant to do so, having learnt about the horrors of shopping from some of the boys at school who had girlfriends, but after his mother had told him it that this would be the perfect occasion to get on his fiancée's good side he had finally caved in. Oh well, while Akane was browsing the clothes shops he could always visit the bookshop and buy some new mangas.

He wouldn't admit it to Akane, but so far he had been enjoying the outing. Walking through the streets and talking about inconsequential things that happened at school, and just having a good time without any of the usual nuisances interfering was quite relaxing.

"… and then, get this, Hiroshi stumbled over his own feet and the cup of hot coffee flew right at Miss Hinako's head," Ranma chuckled while retelling the embarrassing story. "Believe me, the teacher's reaction wasn't pretty, but I'm sure the idiot has learnt his lesson and will pay better attention next time he's handling hot beverages."

"Hahaha!" Akane laughed out loud. "Poor Hiroshi. He's still as unlucky as ever."

"Yeah. And I bet…"

"AIREN!" A shrill voice interrupted the pair and caused Ranma to cringe.

Before he could react the annoying Amazon had already glomped him from behind and was rubbing her impressive assets against his back.

The unfortunate martial artist turned his head and gulped when he noticed the angry aura forming around his fiancée. He then looked imploringly at the sky. _'Why me?'_, he sighed. _'Just when things were getting better between us…'_. He just knew that Shampoo would ruin all the progress they'd made over the last few days.

"Airen happy to see Shampoo?" The Amazon asked affectionately while rubbing her cheek against the back of his head.

"SHAMPOO!" Akane growled and tried to kick the Chinese girl away from her fiancé. "What do you think you're doing?"

Before the kick could connect the purple haired girl had already backflipped to safety and blew a raspberry at her rival. "Angry girl too slow. Need train lot more if want hit Shampoo. But probably waste of time since angry girl too weak."

"I'll give you weak, you top heavy bimbo!" the black haired girl growled and ran straight at her rival. Shampoo had anticipated the simple attack and gracefully jumped over Akane before mule kicking her in the back and landing lightly on her two feet after performing an aerial flip.

The Amazon's attack had taken Akane by surprise, but she still managed to curl up and tumble forwards which kept her from crashing gracelessly to the ground.

She was about to attack again when Ranma jumped in front of her. "Stop it, Akane!"

"Stay out of this!" She pushed the pigtailed teen away. "This is my fight. Don't butt in!"

"Fine. Have it you way," Ranma groaned in annoyance. "She'll just humiliate you again."

"What? You don't think I can take her?" The youngest Tendo was outraged at her fiancé's insinuations.

"That's exactly what I mean," he countered, much to Akane's surprise who hadn't expected her fiancé to put it so bluntly. "Look", he elaborated, hoping to appease her and keeping her from making a huge mistake, "I don't want to make fun of you, but as long as you let your anger rule your actions you won't be able to beat her. Don't you see? She's taunting you on purpose, just to make you lose your focus."

"Like you're any better! Someone just has to make fun of your skills or your masculinity and you'll accept any challenge, however stupid it may be."

"Yeah? At least I win my fights, unlike a violent tomboy I know."

"Why you…!" Akane was getting angry again and the two of them started bickering, much to Shampoo's joy whose amused grin turned a lot more sinister.

"Erhem!" The purple haired girl interrupted the quarrel. "Shampoo still here you know."

That had been enough to get them to stop. "What do you want, Shampoo?" Ranma asked. "Haven't you done enough already? Just leave us alone. We have stuff to do."

Akane looked at Ranma with surprise, but also with genuine happiness. Was this it? The day when he'd finally send the barbarian packing?

"But airen," the Chinese teenager tried to explain. "Shampoo have cure for curse. Real one this time."

She had barely finished her sentence when Ranma had already teleported in front of her and taken her hands into his own.

"Really?" He asked in a hopeful tone, not noticing the blazing aura coming from behind him. "Where is it?"

"Rannnnmaaaaa!" Akane venomously hissed at her fiancé having tried her best but failed at keeping her temper in check. "What are you doing? Don't tell me you trust her. You're always letting her manipulate you, and none of her cures have ever worked. Even you can't be that naïve."

The martial artist carefully considered his fiancée's words and couldn't really fault her reasoning. So far the results of his numerous quests for a cure had been less than stellar. "You're probably right, but who knows, this time it might be a real cure. Let's just hear her out. You know how important this is to me."

Akane was less than pleased by his answer. She knew that this was just another ploy to get a date with HER fiancé. "Oh really! Well, I remember very clearly what you said at Jusendo. Didn't you claim that you had finally stopped caring about the curse and that your girl side would always be a part of you? And then you went immediately after the barrel of Naniichuan at our wedding."

"Well, yeah. But at that time I thought the cursed springs were gone for good."

Shampoo was following the verbal exchange with obvious interest and glee, waiting for the right moment to make her move. Her plan was working out even better than she'd expected. First she'd drive a wedge between them, and then she would steal her airen's heart right under the nose of her hated rival. She couldn't wait to see the violent girl's reaction after she realized that she had lost the battle for Ranma's heart.

"Well, I don't care. You can go and look for a cure another time. You promised to go shopping with me today and I don't want HER to ruin that."

He froze after hearing those. Akane was right, of course. He had made that promise. But then, listening to what Shampoo had to say would only take a few minutes. He was sure that the dark haired girl would understand. They'd still have the rest of the afternoon left to go shopping.

"But Akane", he tried to reason with the girl. "Let's just listen to her. It won't take long and we still have more than enough time to go on our shopping trip."

"Fine!" Akane violently slapped her fiancé on his cheek. "Then just go with the bimbo. See if I care." She huffed and walked away.

Ranma just stood there, rooted on the spot and with an astonished look on his face, watching the furious way walk away. "Fine! Be that way! I'll get my cure and you'll see that I was right," he shouted after the departing girl and demonstratively turned his back to her. "Hmpf! She has no idea."

'_Perfect'_, Shampoo grinned malevolently at her rival. _'Exactly as planned.'_.

Of course, she could have easily implemented her plan without all the drama, but she just couldn't resist such a perfect occasion to make fun of and humiliate Akane, especially since she was such an easy targer. She really hated the girl who tried to steal away HER husband.

Taking advantage of the fact that the two Nerimans seemed to have forgotten her she quickly pulled a round object the size of a tennis ball out of her cleavage. "Shampoo wish Ranma love Shampoo!" She shouted as loudly she could and in Japanese to make sure that Akane and Ranma understood her.

There was a bright flash and the two martial artists immediately looked into the Amazon's direction, eyes drawn to the glowing sphere she was holding in her hands.

Not waiting to find out if it had worked she immediately made another wish, just in case her airen or the angry girl tried to take the magical artifact away from her. "Shampoo wish Shampoo and airen sent to Joketsuzoku village." (1)

There was another flash, temporarily blinding Akane who had been staring at the orb, and when she could see again she realized that she was alone in the street.

"RANMA!" She shouted in fear and frantically looked around, hoping that all of this was just a bad dream, but she couldn't find the other teens anywhere. She ran to the spot where Shampoo had been standing, but there was no sign of her… or of her fiancé.

"Ranma," she whispered before angry flames appeared in her eyes and an impressively huge aura of the deepest red formed around her. "That bitch!" She yelled. "Wait till I get my hands on her!" Akane wanted answers and she knew where she'd get them. She turned around and angrily stomped towards the Nekohanten.

**01234543210**

All was calm in the Amazon village of Nyuchiehzu until out of nowhere a young woman materialized in the center of the marketplace surprising the shoppers as well as the vendors. Shampoo looked around and grinned when she recognized the place. Home. She had finally done it. She had successfully completed her quest and brought her airen back with her. She couldn't wait to show him off to her friends. They would be so jealous of her for catching the perfect husband.

She looked around for Ranma but didn't see him anywhere. "Airen? Where is you?"

Fear was slowly gripping her soul as a frightening thought came to her mind. Could she have made a mistake? She tried to figure out where she might have gone wrong when she heard a familiar voice call her name.

Xian Pu? Is that you?

**01234543210**

Ranma was at a loss as to what to do. One moment he was in Nerima on a kinda date with Akane and the next one he found himself inside a small alley, in an unknown place and completely disoriented. He carefully approached the exit to the alley, his back to the wall to make as small a target as possible, and took a quick peek around the corner. He gasped when he saw the landscape. The view was breathtaking. All around him he saw Chinese-style houses of every size, many of them chiseled into the mountainside from bottom to top of the mountain range surrounding the village. He had been to many unusual places on his training journey, but he had never seen anything like this. He wondered how he had ended up there but then he remembered Shampoo's wish. Something about sending the both of them to her village, but it was quite obvious that something must have gone horribly wrong. This was definitely not the Amazon village he knew.

He took another peek, this time concentrating on the people instead of the landscape. What he saw didn't fill him with much confidence. Scantily clad women wearing nothing more than thongs, loincloths, bikinis, or other skimpy tops populated the streets. Many of them wore white capes she didn't understand the purpose of. Most of them were carrying weapons and looked like they knew how to use them. What troubled him most was the complete lack of men. He couldn't find a single one in the large crowd, which led him to the conclusion that even if this wasn't Shampoo's village the culture had to be somewhat similar, but then he remembered that even if Shampoo's people are a matriarchal society the men are at least allowed onto the streets, although there were some places that were off-limit..

Another thing he noticed right away was that the place seemed to have some kind of snake theme going on. Not only were the roofs of the houses adorned with snake statues, but most of the women were wearing carrying living snakes that were coiled around their bodies.

Ranma might not have known where he was but the whole setup set off alarm bells in his head. This was a certified clusterfuck just waiting to happen and he didn't want to have any part in it for once. Very slowly he walked away from the opening to his own personal hell and deeper into the rather short alley. He walked backwards to make sure that no one was following him, when he stepped on something squishy.

This was answered by an angry yowl and when the unfortunate martial artist turned around to take stock on the situation the angry, furry animal he had disturbed jumped at his face and viciously used it as a scratching post.

"C-C-CAT!" He shouted in fear, trying to pry the angry beast off his face. Stumbling blindly around he couldn't see where he was going and promptly tripped over a large piece of wood and landed on the ground outside of the alley. The cat let go after it had vented its anger and Ranma let out a relieved sigh.

The sigh got stuck in his throat, though, when he noticed the many astonished eyes on him. _'Oh shit!'_ He thought and had barely enough time to get up before the chase was on.

Later, when he would reflect on the whole scene, he'd swear that through the whole chase he had heard someone play a catchy tune on the saxophone. Weird.

**01234543210**

Meanwhile, in Nerima, Akane was on her way to the Nekohanten. Her anger was palpable and made the bystanders give her a wide berth lest they become the targets of her ire. She had rarely resented Shampoo as much as she did at that moment. Everything had been going so well too. They had finally been getting along better and then that bitch had to show up and ruin everything. Although, in retrospect, after replaying the whole scene in her mind, she had to admit, albeit reluctantly, that she might have overreacted a little bit. She knew that her temper somehow got the better of her and that this fiasco could have been avoided if she had reacted more calmly, but that damn top heavy bimbo just knew what buttons to push to get under her skin. The same was true for Kodachi, actually. She knew that she should have handled the situation differently, but Ranma had also been at fault. By now that idiot should know better than to trust the Amazons. They never do anything for free and always have a sinister motive for their actions, but once again, the mere mention of a potential cure had been enough for him to throw his common sense through the window. When would the baka ever learn?

She had finally arrived at her destination and without announcing herself entered the restaurant and headed straight towards the back, past the astonished patrons who didn't dare to stop the angry girl. She resolutely entered the kitchen where she found her target talking on the phone, in Chinese.

Strangely enough the old woman didn't seem to be surprised to see her which was a good indication that the elder knew perfectly well what was going on. She just had to find away to get the information out of her.

She's arrived; just as expected. I'll call back once I get her version of the story. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this very soon.

"Ah, Miss Tendo," Cologne greeted the teenager jovially as she calmly put the receiver back on the hook, not giving anything away. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Cut the crap! You know why I'm here, so don't play any games with me. Where are Ranma and Shampoo?" She forcefully demanded, not bothering with the usual niceties but getting to the point right away. "I know you're behind all of this. Tell me where they are!"

Before the young girl could really talk herself into a rage the elder quickly poked a pressure point along her spinal cord and one on her neck. As if she was a puppet whose strings had been cut Akane sagged into a conveniently placed chair, her legs not supporting her body any longer: She tried to protest but immediately realized that her vocal cords refused to move, much to her shock and she hoped that the old had wouldn't do anything worse to her.

"That's better," the elder nodded with satisfaction. "You should really learn to respect your elders, girl. Now, if you promise to behave I'll release you from the pressure points. I'm sure we can talk about everything civilly, like adults. Nod if you agree!"

Akane shot the Amazon a venomous look, but fully aware of her helplessness she had no choice but to reluctantly agree.

"That's better," Cologne nodded approvingly and released the unfortunate girl from her predicament, poking some more pressure points on the youngest Tendo's back.

Akane immediately jumped to her feet and pointed her index finger at the old woman. "You know what happened to Ranma!" She accused Shampoo's great-grand mother once again, but this time in a calmer tone, afraid to find out what else the Amazon would do to her if she tried her patience too much.

"That I do," she confirmed the young martial artist's suspicions, "but not in full detail. I was just about to learn more when you barged in. We will probably be able to get a clearer picture if we share information. The only way for us to rescue son-in-law from whatever trouble he's in this time is to work together.

"Well, it's you and Shampoo who are responsible for this mess. Don't try and put the blame on someone else".

"That's beside the point," the elder countered. "Throwing around accusations won't help us find a solution. Tell me exactly what happened between the three you without leaving out any detail, however unimportant you think it is and I'll tell you what I know. But know this. Shampoo acted on her own without consulting with me beforehand. You should really stop jumping to conclusions without having all the facts, or one day you might end up angering the wrong person, someone who isn't as tolerant and levelheaded as I am. Now then, please begin."

Akane complied and told the whole story from her point of view, trying to be as precise as possible.

"I see. What a poorly worded wish," the elder shook her head. "What was that foolish girl thinking? This won't make things any easier."

"What do you mean?" the short haired girl asked.

"The person I was on the phone with is a friend from the village who called to give me news about my great-granddaughter. According to her Shampoo appeared out of thin air in the center of the village, alone. According to my friend Shampoo bought the orb in a magical shop just yesterday, but hasn't bothered to read the instructions since they are in a language she doesn't know."

She shook her head once more. "That girl. She'll send me to an early grave with her foolishness If only she let her brain rule her actions instead of her libido…"

The old woman stilled for a few moments before sighing loudly. "Well, what's done is done. No use crying over spilled milk. The only thing that might help us right now is to find the orb's instruction manual. According to the information I got Shampoo left it in her bedroom. Wait here and I'll get it."

After the Amazon had left Akane sat back down on the chair lost in thought. _'Please, be alright'_.

**01234543210**

Unfortunately, if the situation Ranma was in was any indication, Akane's wish hadn't reached its intended recipient in the strange place where he had ended up since the martial artist was far from alright. Quite the contrary in fact as the group of scantily clad women in hot pursuit definitely didn't have his best interests at heart.

All had started out alright, compared to his usual adventures at least, and he could probably have got away safely without anyone noticing if not for that damned cat. After he'd tripped and stumbled into the main street he tried to use the patented Saotome charm that his father had always been talking about on the surprised Amazons, but it became apparent very quickly that it had not had the slightest effect on the women who, instead of worshiping him, drew their weapons and pointed them at him.

So he did what any brave and manly martial artist would do in a similar situation: retreat... which was a technique that had been used since the dawn of time by the most famous commanders and generals in history who wanted to buy some time to turn a total defeat into a tremendous victory. Some ignorant fools might think that he was afraid of a bunch of women and running for his life, but such a shameful act was only done by lesser men and not by accomplished martial artists like him. He was just considerate of the women's feelings and didn't want them to feel bad after losing to him.

As he was retreating at full speed through the main street of the village he cursed every deity in existence as well as a certain purple haired Amazon for the trouble he was in once again, and as he reached the exit of the village the mob had swollen to about 30 individuals who didn't show any sign of getting tired anytime soon or of breaking off the pursuit.

Thankfully he was much faster than the heavily armed group and it didn't take him long outrun them until he made one very fatal mistake. Instead of paying attention to his surroundings he turned his head to check for his pursuers and failed to see the large and very sturdy tree branch appearing in front of him. Noticing the obstacle too late he didn't have enough time to brace himself and hit the branch head on. The blow had been so hard that he was seeing stars and stumbling about directionless until he lost his footing and slipped down a slope and splashed into the stream running below.

While the fall into the cold water had cleared her head immediately and triggered the curse it had also allowed her pursuers to catch up to her; a fact she noticed very quickly when she saw the row of pointy spearheads leveled at her face when she was trying to get up. She looked around and saw that she was surrounded. Some of the Amazons had taken up position further away and were pointing bows made out of real, living snakes at her. That was definitely very, VERY peculiar and she really wondered how they were doing that. She dismissed those thoughts, though, as she had more pressing issues to deal with than improbable weapons. She racked her brain, trying to come up with a way to get out of this mess, but these female warriors were definitely not amateurs and really knew what they were doing as they hadn't left a single gap in her ranks she could use to her advantage. Of course, she could choose the most basic solution: attacking them and knocking them out, but without knowing how many enemies there were or what techniques they used it would be incredibly foolish to try anything, and a fool she was not, at least when it came to fighting.

She was still alive though, which probably meant that her captors could be reasoned with and that she was in no immediate danger of being killed if she cooperated. Or at least she hoped she was right in her assessment of the Amazons. That's why she decided to play it safe, for now, and simply surrender peacefully. That would also give her the time to come up with a good escape plan. She might not know what her enemies were capable of, but the same was true for them. They had no idea what she was capable of and at one point they were bound to make a mistake which she could exploit and maybe turn the tables on them, but that had to wait until she learnt a bit more about them and their strengths and weaknesses.

"I give up," the redhead slowly lifted her arms in surrender, hoping that they understood Japanese… as well as the meaning of the gesture.

Her captors nodded and grabbed her wrists which she had docilely presented to them, before binding them together behind her back with a rope.

Ranma grinned inwardly as this confirmed her theory. They really had no idea what she was capable of or else they would have used something else than a simple rope. If worse came to worst it would be easy to snap the bindings and make a run for it, and this time she'd avoid making a rookie mistake.

As they led the redhead back to their village she tried to talk to her captors and maybe get some information that could help her escape. "Sooooo. Who are you people and what do you want?"

Her perfectly sensible question was answered with a painful blow to the head with a spear shaft. "Quiet, prisoner!" The owner of the weapon ordered, a rather pretty girl with short, curly, brunette hair, wearing a fur miniskirt and a revealing fur vest which only served to enhance her natural beauty. Ranma guessed her age at perhaps twenty-two or twenty-three. "You don't speak until spoken to! We're the ones asking the questions here."

"Alright, alright," the redhead grumpily complained. "No need to get your panties in a bunch, sheesh! I was just asking."

The Amazon gave the redhead a scathing look and considered hitting her once more for disobeying the order she'd given, but seeing that the girl was quiet now she stayed her hand… for now. Instead, she poked Ranma in the back with the spear head whenever she slowed down, one time even drawing a bit of blood. This made the martial artist realize that her captors really meant business and that she'd better not antagonize them unnecessarily; at least until she had a better grasp of the situation and was sure she'd win. All bets would be off then.

The group of women led her into the village and past the many onlookers who were observing her with obvious curiosity. When they reached a large, iron cage they opened the door and pushed her inside.

"You'll stay here until your fate is decided." The brunette ordered sharply. "If you try to escape or decide to rebel, the guards will shoot you down on the spot, without mercy!"

Having given her warnings the fierce woman left Ranma to her thoughts and left in direction of the largest building in the village with the other hunters in tow. Once they were gone some of the villagers gathered around the cage and eyed the prisoner with curiosity. _'This must be how the animals feel in a zoo'_, she thought, not liking those stares in the least. _'Well, I'll just have to wait and see,_' she shrugged and lay down on the simple bed, trying not to let the crowd bother her.

**01234543210**

Akane was sitting on the chair, patiently waiting for Cologne's return, but inwardly she was seething. The worst was that she didn't know who she should be most angry with; Ranma for once again falling for one of Shampoo's stupid schemes, or the annoying Amazon for never leaving them alone. She didn't have time to think too much about it as two minutes after leaving Cologne was already back, holding a piece of paper in her hand.

"I found it. It was openly lying on Shampoo's bed where anyone can easily find it. That girl… I really don't know what to do with her anymore. I told her time and time again never to leave incriminating material lying around."

When she saw Akane's incredulous look she turned her head away, slightly embarrassed, and coughed in her fist before changing the subject. "Ahem! Anyway, with this we will hopefully get to the bottom of things."

Akane got up from the chair to take a closer look at the paper, blinking in surprise when she recognized the language. "Isn't that English?"

"Yes, it is. Unfortunately…"

"Let me guess," Akane interrupted the old woman before she could elaborate. "Shampoo doesn't know any English."

"Indeed," she sighed in dismay. "How reckless of her. Such a behavior is not becoming of a great Amazon warrior. I simply can't understand why she didn't ask me to translate it for her."

"Have you read the instructions yet?" Akane eagerly asked, hoping that the old woman had found out where Ranma was.

"I only skimmed it, but it doesn't look good at all. I'm going read it more thoroughly and translate it for you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Akane angrily asked. "I can understand English just fine."

"I don't care what you THINK you're capable of. I'm sure you know a little English, but I doubt you're good enough to completely understand all the intricacies of this text. Magic is serious business and not to be trifled with. A single mistake in the translation, however insignificant it might seem, could lead to disastrous consequences. With all the dangerous artifacts you've been exposed to you should know that by now. Now, child, be quiet and let me read."

Properly chastised the young girl shut up and patiently let the elder finish. Once the Amazon had reached the bottom of the sheet she sighed very loudly. "It's even worse than I thought," she rubbed her forehead in annoyance.

Akane stared at the elder with uncertainty, fear gripping at her heart. She'd never seen the usually strong and confident woman in such a sorry state in all the time she'd known her. Could it really be that bad?

"Here's what the text says," the elder started:

'_The MacGuffin Orb (2) for Dummies: _

_The MacGuffin Orb is an infamous, cursed orb that can grant its owner almost any wish. However, it will usually twist the wish in the worst way possible to bring pain and misery to its user. Not much is known about its origins, but it is widely believed that it was created either by a god or a demon. Wherever it may have come from, one thing is obvious. Whoever created this malignant object was either one hell of a vindictive bastard who hated the whole word or a powerful, mischievous being with too much time on their hands._

_Whatever the reason for its creation may have been, in the end it doesn't really. More important is knowing how to handle it and how to minimize the trouble it most certainly will cause. _

_Here is a non exhaustive but essential list of things to be aware of when dealing with this artifact:_

_1) The orb is sentient and very capricious and whimsical and has a mean streak a mile wide, especially if angered. Believe me; you really don't want to get on its bad side._

_2) It is completely indestructible, so don't even try destroy it as its retaliation will be swift and unpleasant, death being the best outcome you can hope for. Many have tried to rid the world of its indescribable evil and all have come to regret their foolish attempt for the rest of their usually short lives. _

_3) Whatever you wish for you have to be aware that the orb will grant the wish in whatever way it wants, depending on its mood. Therefore, always treat it with respect and deference or the results of the wish will be worse than they are already bound to be._

_4) Using the orb's power at least once a day is heavily advised. Refusing or forgetting to do so will result in a penalty inflicted on you or someone close to you. The longer you wait before making a wish the direr the consequences will be, ranging from tripping over a banana peal to suffering a fatal heart attack. _

_5) There are only two known ways to get rid of it: giving it away… or dying of course. _

_6) All wishes are final and the orb will **NEVER** undo them but only make things worse'._

Akane could hardly believe her ears and was gaping at Cologne after she had finished reading the notice. "That can't be," she shook her head in denial. "We have to do something."

"Indeed we do," Cologne answered matter-of-factly. "I have to call the village and warn them about the orb before something really bad happens.

"I meant about Ranma," the black haired girl specified.

"What do you want me to do? I have no idea where he is and no a way of finding him. I definitely won't use the orb for that. The only thing I can do at the moment is trying to help my great-granddaughter out of the mess she's in. She used a powerful magical artifact without supervision and without knowing the consequences while additionally failing her quest of bringing her husband back with her. If she's lucky she'll only lose her warrior status for her failures, which one of the greatest shames that can happen to an Amazon."

"That's more important to you than getting Ranma back?" Akane asked, getting angry once again. "It's Shampoo's fault he is gone in the first. She deserves what is coming to her. The least you could do is try and bring him back."

"Like I said before, I have no idea how," she coldly answered. "I feel for your loss, but son-in-law has to find his own way home. There's nothing I can do. And now, please leave, there's a lot I have to do."

Akane tried to reason with the elder but to no avail and was promptly escorted out of the restaurant.

Before the young girl could protest the old woman closed the door and locked it up.

"Fine! Be that way!" The furious teenager shouted at the door. "I don't need your help. I'm sure I can find him himself."

She angrily left trying to come up with a viable rescue plan on her way home. She would show them all what she was capable of. This time she would be the one doing the rescuing and she couldn't wait to rub it in everyone's face after she'd succeeded. That would teach them not to underestimate her. And finally gaining her fiancé's respect would be the icing on the cake. However, before she could search for him she had to inform the families.

**01234543210**

Ranma was calmly lying on the bed, hands buried under her head and mentally processing the information she'd gathered so far, which hadn't been very much she had to admit. However, looking at the inhabitants of the village it was obvious that most of the members of the tribe were warriors and fighters. She could work with that. The kind of people usually respected strength, and if she showed them her skills they might let her go… hopefully. Whatever might happen she would be smarter and not make the same mistakes she made with The Chinese Amazons. She'd ask about the rules first before accepting a duel or any other kind of challenge to prove her strength.

Those were points of concern, of course, but what really worried her was the complete absence of men inside the village as well as the completely alien vegetation. This was definitely not Japan, and yet all the inhabitants spoke Japanese. She didn't know what that meant, but she would need answers to these questions before she tried to escape or made any kind of deal with her captors. The thin iron bars of the cage would not be an obstacle.

She was interrupted in her thoughts by a commotion coming from outside of her prison. She lifted her head to see what was happening and saw the crowd part to make way for two women who were confidently walking into her direction.

She got up and approached the bars to get a closer look at them and immediately noticed that they were complete opposites.

The one on the left was a cold beauty in her mid to late twenties with long black hair tied in a high ponytail. Very eye-catching was the top of the ponytail, which looked like the headstock of a guitar, the dangling lozenge earrings, and the artfully applied blue eye shadow and red lipstick which gave her an air of sternness and cruelty. She wore a sexy, fur plunge monokini (3) that barely left anything to the imagination, covering only her nipples and the sides of her breasts and was held together by a large metal ring covering her navel.

The one of the right was basically a fat, less decrepit looking version of Cologne. She was maybe a little bit taller and had long, white hair and was carrying a staff in form of a snake that she used as a walking stick. On closer scrutiny Ranma noticed that the staff was actually alive. She was dressed similarly to the other women, but the redhead was very glad that her clothes were a lot less revealing.

She supposed that they were the leaders of the tribe.

"I am Kikyo", the younger one introduced herself after reaching the cage, "the acting leader of the Kuja tribe while Hebihime-sama, the great and powerful Pirate Empress Boa Hancock, is away. And this," she pointed at her companion, "is Elder Nyon."

She then looked at the prisoner. "We will ask you some questions and you WILL answer them truthfully, or else your life is forfeit. If your answers are satisfying you will live; at least until Hebihime-sama is back and takes a final decision as to what your fate will be."

Two chairs had been brought forward in the meantime and positioned in front of the cage. The two temporary leaders sat down and Kikyo started the interrogation. "State your name!"

**01234543210**

(1) Joketsuzoku, the Japanese name of the Chinese Amazons, basically means 'Village of Woman Heroes', which is vague enough to render the orb's task of twisting the wish very easy.

(2) At first I wanted to use the cursed monkey paw, but after a rather annoying discussion about the exact workings of the artifact and anticipating more of the same if I used another 'existing' magical trinket I decided to just use the current name since that's basically what it is. http(:) wiki/MacGuffin

It won't be mentioned again in the story, or at least it won't have any important part to play..

(3) That's the closest designation I could find for the garment. If anyone knows the exact designation of that kind of outfit please tell me. It's pretty much a fur version of Vampirella's outfit.

POSTED: 2012/10/17

EDITED:2012/10/20


End file.
